Many of us think that having faith is an option. We quite often envy those who have faith saying we wish we also could be like them. But if we were to go into the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus encounters a fig tree, we will find to our shock that faith is not an option, it is a requirement.
Here are the verses from the Scriptures, ‘The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
When evening came, Jesus and his disciples[c] went out of the city.
In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
All this happened when Jesus, who was hungry, came to a fig tree hoping to eat a few figs to get rid of his hunger, but the fig tree had no fruit and Jesus cursed the tree, but, the next line says, that ‘it was not the season of fruits’.
Which means that the fig tree was not supposed to bear fruits at that time. So, was Jesus unfair? I believe that the line which pertains to it not being the season of fruits pertains to the normal, logical way of things happening. But when Jesus went up to the fig tree the normal and logical way was not expected to happen, but the extraordinary was expected! The fig tree was supposed to move from doing the expected to doing the unexpected, it didn’t, was cursed and withered away. When we pray, we move from the realm of the ordinary to that of the extraordinary, and that faith should ‘move mountains’!
Jesus says in Matthew 17:20, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”That is the faith we are supposed to have. It is not a choice, it’s a requirement. Either you have that mustard seed of faith, or land up like that withered fig tree.
Today as an element of fear grips our community in the country, hold onto that mustard seed. That small seed can grow to a height of 20 feet and spread as wide. So can your faith. Or would you rather be that withered, barren fig tree?
There’s really no choice, is there?
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